


Damned Destiny

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: CS Mentioned, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 05:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: I don't know if you've done this before, but I would love to read a fic where Regina's meant to be Emma's maid of honour, but she doesn't show up, until she bursts into Emma's wedding full on 'sorry, I'm late' and declares her loveAsked by anon via tumblr





	Damned Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> For describing purposes I’ll be setting this as if the actual wedding was at the town hall instead of where it was. (Just so Regina has a real door she can burst in)

The continuous humming of sobs and whispered compliments were the first thing Emma heard falling silent as she licked her lips and tried to answer for a second time to Archie’s question without stumbling on the two small -apparent not so simple- words. Hook’s growl of anger was, however, what broke the debilitating sensation on her neck and limbs as she, finally, glanced up from their conjoined hands in where rings could already be seen.

The town hall had been beautifully decorated in all sorts of whites; whites that Emma had already forgotten its correct denomination. It was, perhaps because of that, that Regina standing in the middle of the already open doors with a blue dress that didn’t look in the slightest like the soft pink Snow had picked for the bridesmaids, stood in sight as she squared her shoulders and smirked, almost sadly, to the almost newlyweds.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

People gasped and Emma could feel Hook already growling again as several of the fairies clawed at their dresses, searching for their wands. It could have been a comic sight if it wasn’t because of the broken glance Henry -seated front and center- directed not only at his brunette mother but to Emma as well as the blonde saw how Regina walked down the middle of the aisle, not once looking at anybody but Emma, with the skin-tight blue dress Emma could remember already having seen on her and dark circles behind her eyes.

Last time she had seen a similar image the two of them had been on the wish realm; protected by the fact that nothing was real. Now, however, as she saw her father turn and narrow his eyes at Regina while Snow placed a placating hand on his shoulder, the uncomfortable similarity of both ceremonies was enough to render her speechless.

Finally stopping three steps away from the couple, Regina tilted her head to her right, visibly nibbling her bottom lip before Hook threw himself at her, only stopped by Emma’s sudden grip on his suit’s fabric.  Turning like a rabid dog, the man shrugged out Emma’s clasp as the blonde kept on staring at Regina, half of her wishing for the whole ordeal to just be a miscommunication and for the brunette to be about to sit or stand beside her. Just like she had asked her to do half a month ago.

_“What are you doing here?”_

The brunette’s eyes, however, spoke in the same volume they had done that night in where Emma had knocked on her door with her hands already trembling and just too much pressure on her shoulders. Regina had let her enter and had led her to the study only to lean on the closing door of the room as Emma explained herself in shushed vocals and strained consonants.

“That’s what you want?” Regina had asked and Emma had felt the same debilitating sensation that had accompanied her that very same day as she had put on dress with the striking recognition that Emma Swan would disappear that very same afternoon. Back at that night those weeks ago, however, she had swallowed and glanced at the older woman with a pleading glint on her eyes, fingers fiddling with the ring, the ring that felt cold and tacky and far too similar to a death sentence than an actual source of joy.

“Regina…”

The brunette had glanced at her feet before turning her hands into fists, a fast, curt nod shaking her head as she had finished with one last nail to what Emma felt to be a coffin, a tomb. One she was walking into for reasons she felt far too difficult to truly put into words.

“If that’s what you wish...”

But Regina hadn’t appeared, hadn’t said a word, not even when Emma had tried to call her, staring at Zelena and admitting the uncomfortable truth that ever since she had asked her to be her maid of honor Regina had barely spoken to her only to be met with the redhead’s growl. Yet, there she was, dressed in blue and gorgeous enough for Emma to dig her nails on the palms of her hands as she kept on staring at her, unable, unwilling, to look at anywhere else but her.

“Emma?”

Sucking on her breath the blonde blinked and swallowed, Hook’s fingers being now the ones that dig painfully on her forearm as the two of them kept on staring at the brunette. Brunette whose eyes shone purple as she took a small step towards her while the citizens of Storybrooke collectively shared a gasp.

“I need to talk to you.”

Regina’s voice sounded broken, dejected enough for Emma to close her eyes for longer than a second, her mind bringing her back to that other night once again when she had been handled an opportunity she had been ready to destroy.

“Then you should have come before.”

Hook’s venomous words broke the spell, however, and Emma separated herself from him, unwilling to look at him as Regina kept on looking at her. She didn’t need to really explain more, Emma realized. There had been one reason only for Emma to go alone to tell Regina that she wanted her as her maid, the same reason of why she had known that the former queen had hesitated before asking, yet again if that was what she wanted. The same reason why she had known that very morning why Regina hadn’t appeared or why Henry had kept on glancing at his phone while shooting at her warning looks.

Looks Emma had feigned not to see while feeling enough of a coward to want to cry.

How, when, she had decided to say yes despite the screams her mind kept on sending from the back of her mind. When had she decided to step out her own persona and wear the one everyone thought would be best for her? When had she decided to be a copy of a woman she truly wasn’t or felt?

Outside her doubts, Regina kept eyeing her, the magic on her eyes slowly dying out as the tension escalated and Hook pushed her to say those two pesky little words.

 “I give her a choice!” Regina’s scream was what broke Emma’s prison, the brunette’s posture changing from pleading to angry as she stood in front of the city; back straight as a rod. “I don’t cash on past assistances only so she feels forced to see me in a new light!”

This time it was Henry who stood next to his brunette mother as Hook took the final two steps towards Regina, black omen written on his eyes.

“She saved your life your majesty, don’t you have enough?” His words were whispered but were loud enough, aggressive enough, for Emma to feel them scalding her own skin as she, for the first time, fought against the haze her former actions had descended upon her eyes.

“I saved her life.”

Everyone, fairies, her parents, Zelena herself, turned from Regina and Hook to her as she glanced down; not at her hands but at the dress. A dress that felt constrictive, oppressive.

“I saved her life.” She tasted the words and shed a smile, glancing at Regina as she did so. “I did that for her, not for anyone else.”

“Love…”

His words were suddenly unbearable in the same way she felt like screaming and so she approached Regina and said the words she had dreamt on admitting ever since she had glanced at the older woman at the town line and just about to be given a happy ending that didn’t felt like it was one but only a poor reflection for another one. One she had seen so clearly that had robbed her the faculty of speak until it had been far too late.

“I’m in love with you.”

The answer of who she was, she thought as Regina repeated the words back at her, not paying any mind to Hook’s own scream and insults, didn’t lay there, in a dress and promises that weren’t hers to say. And as much as she didn’t know where it hid anymore, that part of her, she preferred the idea of giving that to the woman in front of her, to the woman who saw her and who she was able to see as well without a title and words of a past long gone and written on moth-eaten pages that weren’t theirs to read after all. After all, she thought as she let the healing feeling of their conjoined magic jump between her fingers, creating sparks that skipped on their skin, destiny could be damned.


End file.
